| Date: Thursday, December 16, 2004 Title: Living Water |
| Harlow...
Back again... Comp crashed, so can only wait till everything is settled until I can blog again... heez... pai seh pai seh... Wha! Hearing so much about some "passer-by" coming around and cho cho Samantha... hmm.... heez... I was really glad to see so many people coming alongside her and supporting her! That is Sojourners way to go man! :) It's heartening to see you guys encouraging her to go for God! :) That is what the Body of Christ is for, to build up, strengthen and edify one another! :) Just have a word to say... haha... ;) People, when you glorify God and when you CHOOSE to lift up the Name of Jesus, and to be counted for Him, EXPECT persecution! This is really minor (do I hear a gasp or shock?? ;)) coz you don't see the person... the person who tagged, I mean... But what if it is someone closer to you, someone you KNOW, see, touch, hear? We need to build up our "elephant-hide" to withstand all these. BY the way, one of the ways to know you are going on the right track is the presence of things like this. ;) take heart! You guys are doing great! Remember the verse 2 Timothy 3:12"In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted". The verse din say MAY BE... it says WILL BE....are we afraid? I remember Cindy Jacobs, a prophetess in the US, mentioned in her book, "Women of Destiny", that people will actually in her face, over the radio, comment bad stuff about her, personal attacks and all that! Wha! Din noe the people in US so "open" one ar... anyway, you know what? God was training her to have the hide of a rhinoceros! haha... to me that is cool! Coz when God is your avenger, your enemies have no place to stand, and God will repay... her enemies were proven WRONG! ha! you need not lift a hand to avenge... Just that our human-ness tends to urge us to "fight back" :) that is our human-ness... Like prophet Samuel, if you are raised by God to stand for truth and righteousness, NONE of your words will fall to the ground, and God will be the One to establish you... Rem when this guy Samuel went to the house of Jesse, the elders of the town came to him TREMBLING, and asked him if he came for peace or not! wha! They knew this is one man who stands for God and God backs up his words! Reading the blogs of the Sojourners like these couple of hours and really, makes me glad what I see being posted! Things so positive and yet so candid, honest... May we be a shining light for HIM in this dark and increasingly corrupt generation! May our salt be so salty that they be thirsty for Living Water! LIVING WATER WELL WITHIN MY SOUL THAT I MAY DRAW UPON YOUR LIFE LIVING WATER WELL WITHIN MY SOUL THAT I MAY NEVER THIRST AGAIN POUR YOUR SPIRIT OUT UPON ME LORD BREAK THE YOKES FROM MY LIFE I WANT TO SEE YOUR GLORY COME I PLACE MY LIFE INTO YOUR HANDS LIVING WATER, LIVING WATER LIVING WATER IN MY LIFE (REPEAT) Have been spending time reflecting on stuff that had happened this year... Next year is the year of abundance and overflowing... Have to allow God to work in my life so that I may break into my destiny! I may be a piece of ugly pottery... but in the hands of the Master, may my life be one that pleases Him... I have a feeling that many things in my life will change, the relationships with my friends, things that I need to let go... On the 2nd day of the servers' retreat, after Session 2b, I went to Thomson Plaza... my mind was in a whirl, coz every single thing that was mentioned in the sermon was talking to me!! ( i felt =p) I felt I had to get away and talk to God, ask Him about stuff... went to Swensons and ate icecream, had coffee... reviewed my notes... Felt that I don't qualify as a leader! Haha... If I strictly take 1 Tim3 as a checklist, I have failed! Miserably in fact... So I asked God, should I stay or should I go... I felt the Lord say to me that my work in the youth is not over, and I should stay, press on! God has been good, encouraging me by showing me a book that I had read so long ago, "Clean heart, constant spirit" by Pastor Susan Tang. Those of you who know me, know that I love her books and teachings.. I admire this woman of God greatly and she is one of my role models! =) I was really surprised by her writings...The first page hit me... "A Personal Word This book is for weary but gallant saints. Saints who are worn out, discouraged and harrassed by the spirit of inconsistency and personal contradiction. They see it and they also see it in the lives of their admired leaders and those under their leadership. I have met many of these gallant soldiers, who, in spite of this harrassing problem, have moved on to serve the Lord. But in private there is a sigh, a secret cry and a heaven-directed groan which says, "Oh Lord, why am I like this?" Like Naaman, they are known as mighty men of valour but then, not many people know of then leprosy of inconsistency and self-contradiction that has afflicted them. One of these gallant men, a pastor told me, "I am so inconsistent and self-contradictory that I believe even my dog knows it. Sometimes i feed him and sometimes I don't. Sometimes he gets fed three times a day and sometimes he doesn't even have a meal in three days!" ... I have personally found new strength to go on as I see how God can work on the human platform of impossibilities. More and more I realise that His heroes are not plastic characters separated from humanity; they are indeed like us, blood, bone, hormones and breath, and they are full of inconsistencies and contradictions too! But God, the great Master Workman, through His faithfulness and fervent love, has worked into their lives and He has has made them great characters of shining worth for His glory. ... life of David... of what God can do with a man who, though inconsistent and contradictory, is willing to reach for His highest purposes. Yes, in spite of what he as, David was raised up on high, became God's standard bearer, called 'a man after God's own heart,' broke into his spiritual destiny and fulfilled God's purpose for his life. David's life really bore the dynamic thrust of real life situations that most of us are able to identify with. It is when we learn to identify with David's character,. his involvements, his spiritual experiences and all the times that he went through that we are led to a new and vital comprehension of God's abiding and enduring grace. We know He will not give up on us as long as we cry out to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and are willing to repent. David's extraordinary life has shown us that as long as we keep ourselves open to the dealings of God, however painful these dealings may be, He will not abandon us. David had failed God often. He was a great saint but he was also a great sinner. He manifested tremendous nobility, self-restraint, meekness, strength and selflessness in his character, but he also manifested grossness, uncontrollable lust, pride, weakness and selfishness. He carried Himself with tremendous dignity, but he also behaved in disturbing and undignified ways. He longed to keep God's laws but he also broke them deliberately. He was full of inconsistencies and contradictions. He knew it. This is why he begged Jehovah not to abandon him; this is why he pleaded with Godn not to take his Holy Spirit away from him! ... Yes, he beseeched God, in Psalm 138:8, not to forsake working into his life. This is a beautiful, beautiful prayer that we must all learn to pray often. Psalm 138:8 The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands. In this prayer, David acknowledged that his life was God's workmanship and that God would bring to completion what He had started to do. However, when he realised that he had often failed God, he became fearful that God might abandon His work in his life. David's fear was justified because he had seen how God 'dropped off' king Saul. He saw how Jehovah had abandoned Saul and he witnessed the evil that befell this monarch soon after the divine departure. However, David did not need to fear because as long as our spirit is open to God in genuine repentance, in a repentance that will make us change our course of life, (not just remorse and tears), He will never forsake us. He will not stop working in our lives. This is the secret to the subsequent success of an individual who wants to walk with God in supernatural ways.
|
| scribbled @ Thursday, December 16, 2004 |
 |